Synergies and barriers with electronic verbatim notes (eVerNotes): note taking and report writing with eVerNotes

As the quantity and the quality of electronic publishing grow and students become more computer literate, electronic verbatim note-taking acquires a more determinative role in the process of composing reports using multiple sources. Many prior applications that supported note taking failed to satisfy the students' study models. We developed eVerNotes, an application that facilitates verbatim note-taking and enables the creation of multiple notes' associations through an intermediate hierarchical structure. We conducted three qualitative studies, two long-term with realistic time constraints and objectives and one in a laboratory, in order to identify obstacles for eVerNotes' acceptance, and to analyse synergies that develop through extended usage of the application. Although the overwhelming majority of students provided positive evaluations of the tool's utility, the results underscored that eVerNotes was not used by several participants because of their incompatible preconceived expectations and earlier experiences, the extra effort imposed on their study model by the application and students' loose commitment with the products of the study process. On the other hand, students who were willing to negotiate their study model exploited eVerNotes' functions and praised its contribution to improving their comprehension and the studying process. Our results constitute a positive indication for the viability of applications that support electronic verbatim note-taking.